Dramatic Sunday School

At the moment there are around 20 children and youth who come regularly to Church in Douentza. Some of them are from Christian families, others not. To take well care of these children and youth is one of the most important things we can do. Therefore, last week two of my colleagues organized a workshop for Sunday school teachers from Douentza, Konza and Sevare. The goal for the workshop was to give the Sunday School teachers some examples and ideas concerning how to teach children. We talked about how children like to see, to touch and to taste, and that we have to be careful not to use words only as we teach them. My colleague Katie also had a session about using drama in the Sunday School. Here are some pictures from the workshop:


Stina is teaching. Newly baptised Rahila is sleeping.


Jibby turns Moussa into a statue of the older brother in the story of the prodigal son.


The prodigal son finally returns home.

I don't want to boast. At least not too much. But I was given quite a bit of credit for my role as one of the pigs in the story of the prodigal son. (At least I hope that is why they kept giving me that role...)

Youth work

Over the years, the work of the missionaries in MELM have developed. A difference today compared with 20 years ago is that there now exist two-three small Fulani speaking congregations. As missionaries we agree that one of the most important things we can do to build a Fulani-speaking church is to give priority to the children and youth in our congregations. For some years we have had a Sunday school that functions very well. Some of the children have now become teenagers, and it is difficult to have them in the same group as the small children. This semester we have therefore started two new things here in Douentza: We have divided the Sunday school into one group for the smaller children and one for the older children. In addition to that we have started a program for teaching the teenagers every second Saturday. Planning and following up this program for the teenagers is my main work-task this semester (in addition to continuing learning Fulani). We have now had our first two meetings, and have been encouraged to find that all three teenagers we hoped would be interested showed up. None of them come from Christian families. I taught the first Saturday. The other Saturdays members in our Church and some of my colleagues will do the teaching.



For those who want to know more in detail what we are teaching, the program is as follows (we have tried to make it relevant to the folk-Muslim context we are working in):

3rd October: The Bible. According to the Bible, God works in the world in two different ways: through his Word and through his Spirit. His Word and Spirit has guided and inspired prophets and apostles as they wrote the books of the Bible.

17th October: God is one and God is great: Christians believe in one God (not three gods, as some Muslims think). This God is the creator of heaven and the earth. To worship other gods or to seek contact with spirits is a serious sin.

31th October: In Jesus Christ we meet God and can see the character of God. Jesus is therefore a lot more than a prophet. As the apostle John says: “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we could see his glory.”

14th November: The salvation in Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead he overcame the powers of death and darkness, and he made a sacrifice for our sins that makes it possible for us to be reconciled with God. Since our salvation rests on what Jesus has done, and not on what we can do ourselves, we can be sure of our salvation.

28th November: The Holy Spirit gives us the life of God. God is not only great, but he comes close to us by his Holy Spirit. We can not only meet God through what Jesus did in the past, but also through the Holy Spirit today.

12th December: God is our Father in Jesus Christ. When we live by grace, and not by law (law = ”saariya” in Fulani), we are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters of God. We can have a direct relationship with God, and do not have to pass through different mediators, saints or religious specialists / professionals.

13th December: The Christian life: love is the fulfillment of the law. This is in one way easier, but in another way more difficult, than following a list of do’s and don’t’s.

20th December: Teaching on Baptism and becoming part of the local Church.

25th December: Christmas service. Maybe with one or more teenagers being baptized?

Please pray for this program and for the teenagers who follow it.

Åkeren er stor og arbeidarane få

Juli, august og september er regntid og då er det mange som jobbar på åkrane. Kvart år er det like spanande når regnet kjem, og om det kjem nok regn til at det vert ei god avling. Dersom regntida er god kan dei fleste leva godt den komande året. Dersom regntida er dårleg får mange problem med å få kvardagen til å gå i hop. I år byrja regnet nesten ein månad seinare enn normalt her i Douentza, men då kom det heldigvis nedbør i store mengder. Det gjer at folk flest sannsynlegvis har greitt med mat store delar av det komande året.

Tradisjonelt sett driv ikkje dei adelege / frie fulaniane med jordbruk. Det er kyr som er tingen. Men sjølv om det er kyr som er tingen har fleire og fleire måtta byrja med litt åkerbruk. Det meste av arbeidet skjer for hand, sjølv om oksar og esel og kamelar i nokon grad vert nytta til å pløya opp jorda. Utfordringa for nokre av folka i kyrkjelyden vår er at sjølv om dei har ein stor åker, så har dei ikkje ein storfamilie som kan stå saman om det tunge arbeidet. Då vert det vanskeleg å få store avlingar.

I haust har eg vore med på åkeren nokre dagar, og forstår no litt meir av den sida av livet til folk her. Eg kan til og med sjå forskjell på peanøttplantar og bønne-plantar. I alle fall på ein god dag. Når hirseplantane er små er det imidlertid lett å forveksla dei med vanleg gras. For ikkje å seia ugras. Borna syntes det er både morosamt og rart at det finst vaksne som ikkje ser forskjell på hirse og gras. Slikt er jo bornelærdom. Så dette er endå eit område der eg har vorte som eit born her i Mali. Men eg lærer no litt etter litt. Kanskje har eg komen så langt at eg no hadde klart å halda potteplantar i livet i Noreg? Det kan godt henda.

Under ser de eit bilete som vart tatt ein gang menna i kyrkjelyden jobba dugnad på kyrkjelydsåkeren.

Round and about

The last couple of weeks I’ve been on two trips. Here are some pictures and comments. First I travelled to the delta north-west of Sevare, together with Kjetil Vestbøstand and a member of our Church.


Kjetil lived and worked in this area for some years. Since there are no missionaries there at the moment, he wanted to show me the area and explain the history of the work there. To get around we used a boat. Since we are now in the dry season, some places it is not enough water to use a motor. So we had to paddle our way around. Here you can see Kjetil paddling. For some reason he refused to sing O sole mio, despite many encouragements. If you take a close look, you can see our kitchen in front of Kjetil.



The last years Kjetil has been part of the team which are translating the Old Testament to Mali-fulani. This summer the plan is to publish Genesis / 1 Mosebok, and also the rest of the story of the life of Moses. Part of the purpose of our trip was therefore also that Kjetil should test the translation with some of his contacts in the delta. They use the feedback from such readings to improve the translation.


Bozos are fishing.


Fulani-shepherds bring their cows to drink.


When we returned to the village we started from, we celebrated Pentecost together with five local men. It means that there is a small Curch there, even if there are no missionaries at the moment.

Than, last week, we filled up a car and travelled to a town close to the border with Burkina Faso. The purpose of this trip was for people in our Church to visit some of the believing fulanis in the area who had attended our Bible school in February. As opposed to Douentza, this part of Mali was never part of the old Fulani Islamic state. One consequense of this is that islam is not as strong there, and people are in general are a bit more open for the Gospel. However, the missionary we visited said that his experience is that people who used to take islam seriously are also more likely to be serious about following Jesus. Another consequense of not being stronglys islamized is (unfortunately and thought-provokingly) that alcoholism is quite a big problem. (It exists also in Douentza, but in a smaller scale, and mostly hidden). The trip was both interesting and a good experience. People were happy to see each other again and to experience the fellowship of a bit bigger group. When we returned home I was exhausted because of lack of sleep, too little food and being tossed around in the car as we drove on something-called-a-road, made up of sand and rocks, filled with dumps, holes and ponds of water. But anyway, it was worth it.



Please pray for:
- The work in the delta
- The publication of Genesis / 1 Mosebok
- Good cooperation between different missions working to reach the Fulanis

Damer i Douentza

Førre helg var det kvinnestemne i Douentza. Til saman var det 38 betalande deltakarar frå ulike delar av Mali. Av dei var ca 25 fulanidamer frå ulike MELM-samanhengar. Undervisninga vart gjeven av ei fulanidame frå Segou og misjonær Maryama Idris frå Niger. Dei underviste blant anna om kvinna si rolle i og utanfor familien, samt ein del praktiske ting i forhold til å oppdra born. Ca noko slikt (av naturlege årsaker var eg ikkje personleg til stades). Kvinnestemnet kom i stand etter initiativ frå nokre av kvinnene i kyrkjelyden i Douentza, og dei stod sjølve for mykje av planlegginga og leiinga av arrangementet.

Tilbakemeldingane frå deltakarane på stemnet var svært gode. Kulturelt sett gjev eigne kvinnesamlingar kvinnene muligheiter til å vera mykje meir aktive enn om det hadde vore menn til stade. Slik sett kan det synast som om stemnet trefte eit behov hjå kvinnene. Me held no på å diskutera om dette bør verta eit årleg arrangement eller ikkje. Under ser du bilete frå den avsluttande gudstenesta på sundag.

Encouraging news, elephants and a rat

At our staff meeting today, we got some encouraging news. After Church service yesterday, one of the members of the congregation in Douentza asked if he could have a talk with one of my colleagues. He just wanted to inform us about three decisions the church members had made in a meeting:

This coming weekend we will organize a camp for women here in Douentza. The weekend has been initiated by some of the women in our congregation, and we expect between 20-30 Fulani women to come, from different parts of Mali. The congregation in Douentza could have chosen to let the mission carry all costs for this event. However, without being asked, they decided that they want to contribute 25 000 cfa (= approximately 200 kr / 25€). This is about half a months salary here.

He than told that the congregation also decided to start paying two members of the church 5 000 cfa (= approximately 60 kr / 8€) each month to do evangelism / outreach. For this the two men are expected to do outreach / evangelism two days a week. The money will be taken from the church offerings.

The third decision he told us about, was that the members of the congregation have now chosen a name for the future Church. Maybe since we are in the process of buying land to build a Church building, the members of the congregation feel a need to have an official stamp (stempel) which they can use when dealing with public authorities. But in order to make a stamp, they first had to decide on a name for the Church. Their suggestion is Eglise Evangelique Lutherienne au Mali (EELM), Dental Fulɓe Douentza (= the Fulani fellowship of Douentza). (Off course the other congregations must be allowed to take part in this decision, so it is not given that this will be the eventual name of the emerging Fulani speaking Church.)

For us missionaries to be informed about these kinds of decisions made by the local believers is very encouraging. The goal of MELM has always been to build an independent, missional and self supporting Church among Fulani-speakers in Mali. However, when you come as a Western mission organisation with lots of money in your pockets, this is not so easy to achieve. It can easily create some dynamics between locals and missionaries that are very difficult to handle. I know this has been one of the biggest challenges for earlier missionaries. Therefore we were very grateful today, as we experience that local believers take on responsibility both when it comes to leadership, evangelism and financial matters. Please join us in giving thanks to God for this development, and continue to pray for the work of mission among the Fulani speakers in Mali.

Than over to a very different thing: north and east of Douentza there is a flock of about 1000 elephants. At this time of the year there is not very much water, so it is easy to find them. Last weekend we went to have a look at them. Here are some pictures from our trip (taken by my neighbour Benedicte Guldbrandsen):



Some touareg-women on their way to get water:


The salt-caravans from Timbuktu continue as they have done for many centuries:



Here you can see our guard Bukari proudly showing off this nearly elephant-sized rat he killed one night, as it sneaked around the compound. It will sneak no more.


After the trip to see the elephants it felt good to get back home. As I entered the house, it felt nice and cool. When I looked to see what the temperature was inside, it showed 38 degrees Celsius. I hereby decleare the warm season officially opened.

Fjernsynskultur

I Noreg er me vant til å tenkja at samfunn utviklar seg frå å vera bygd på jordbruk og dyrehald, via industrialisering og ”opplysning”, til eit service- og informasjonssamfunn. Her i Mali vert alle desse tinga akkurat no blanda saman utan å følgja ei bestemt rekkefølgje. I ein kontekst der folk for 15 år sidan ikkje hadde elektrisitet har mange no både fjernsyn og mobiltelefon. Eg bur i ein by der eg må reisa 170 km for å kjøpa ein pakke smør, men berre 1 km for å kjøpa parabolantenne, fjernsyn eller DVD-spelar. Folk som bur i stråhytter i bushen rundt Douentza kan no sjå brasiliansk såpeopera. Alt du treng er eit gammalt bilbatteri og eit lite reisefjernsyn. Når eg står på taket og ser ned i hagen til naboane mine, sitt gjerne 15 – 20 personar samla rundt lyset frå eit fjernsyn.

Framleis er radio det klart viktigaste massemediet i Mali, men bruken av fjernsyn veks enormt. Eg trur ikkje det er tvil om at det kjem til å påverka kulturane her. Spørsmålet er korleis. Eit tips er at deler av befolkninga vil verta påverka i meir ”vestleg” retning, medan andre vil føla seg truga av det dei ser som promotering av vestleg umoralsk livsstil. (Som i ein muslimsk kontekst diverre lett kan verta identifisert med ”kristen livsstil”). Ei av kollegaane mine kom heim ein kveld og fann som vanleg vaktmannen med heile sin familie (10 born), samt ein del born frå nabolaget, sittande rundt fjernsynet ute på gardsplassen. På skjermen dansa ei topplaus dame rundt ei jernstong. Sidan så mange små born satt og såg på, klarte ikkje kollegaen min å gå forbi utan å seia noko. Ho sa til vaktmannen: ”Ser de verkeleg på dette?! Det er berre heidningar som ser på slike program!” Vaktmannen såg overraska opp på ho. ”Hæ? Det er jo de kvite som lagar desse programma jo!” ”Det er folk som ikkje har nokon Gud som lagar slike program”, sa kollegaen min. ”Gode muslimar ser ikkje på slikt!” Argumentasjonen fungerte, og programmet vart slått av. Dei siste åra har den brasilianske såpeoperaen ”Marima” (trur eg) vorte enormt populær her. Eg kan lova at den ikkje står særleg tilbake for Hotell Cæsar når det gjeld drama, intrigar, konspirasjonar og tvilsam moral. Muhammed, sjåfør i MELM, hevder at han kjenner ei kvinne som tok sin død pga sjokket då ein av karakterane i ”Marima” døyde. Ein rimeleg dramatisk serie med andre ord, i alle fall dersom du lever deg inn i handlinga. Sjølve lar ikkje Muhammed familien sin få lov til å sjå på serien, for han meiner den har ei dårleg påverkning. Samstundes vert sjølvsagt fjernsynet også nytta til å informera og opplysa folk på ulike måtar. Uansett, med fjernsynet sitt gradvise intog i den maliske befolkningen, så vert også folk her dradd inn den globaliserte kulturen. Det skal verta spanande å sjå kva resultatet vert, både på godt og på vondt.

Ei positiv side ved at fjernsynet har komen til byen er i alle fall at språkhjelparen min har parabol. Eg har difor invitert meg sjølve på besøk dit eit par gangar når det tilfeldigvis er kamp i Champions League. (Kan det definerast som jobb, mon tru?) Diverre får han ikkje inn Fotballekstra på TV2 endå. Det kan virka som om Brann hadde trengt litt ekstra støtte for tida. Men kven veit kva framtida vil bringa i desse globaliseringstider.